The Congress with 28 seats has possible allies in the National People’s Party which could give it four more seats. This will give the party an outright majority in the 60-member House.
In a nail-biter that stretched till late Saturday evening, the Congress retained Manipur for a fourth term, despite a stunning entry by the Bharatiya Janata Party into the northeastern state. With a total tally of 28 seats, the Congress looks poised to stake claim for a record fourth term.
Though the Grand Old Party has fallen short of an outright majority in the 60-member House, it is learnt that the four candidates who won on National People’s Party (NPP) tickets are more likely to go with the Congress, while the Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) said that their four candidates who won seats will ally with any non-Congress party. The BJP, which is a NPF ally in Nagaland, did not announce a pre-poll alliance in Manipur, because the NPF manifesto had a clause that stressed on Naga integrity, a tough spot for the BJP.
Congress in-charge for the Northeast CP Joshi said that despite the efforts of the BJP, the Congress will come to power. "We will stake claim because we have the largest number. We overcame the accusations of the BJP and the anti-incumbency. It is not easy to form the government for a fourth term," said Joshi.
The 68-year-old Ibobi, who has been at the helm since 2002, was set for a tough fight. Allegations of corruption, fake encounters, and unrest among the state’s tribal communities were some of the poll planks on which the BJP fought the elections.
Yet, the complex ties among the different tribal communities seemed to have somehow worked in the Congress’s favour. While the three Inner Line Permit ills (ILP) and the last moment redistribution of the districts angered the Naga and Kuki communities, the Congress still stands to gain four seats from the Naga community.
“The people long for a change. They’re tired of the corruption, the unending atrocities and divisive politics that the Congress has played with all these years,” said BJP leader N Biren Singh, a former Congress minister who moved to the BJP months ahead of the polls.
Riding on an increasing sense of anti-incumbency and a rising saffron wave, BJP managed to pull in 36.3 per cent of the vote-share, while the Congress registered 35.1 per cent. In the 2012 assembly elections, the BJP had managed a meagre 2.6 per cent while not winning even a single seat. What seemed to have worked in favour of the BJP, apart from a growing sense of anti-incumbency is the state’s complex and divisive equations between the various tribes in the hill areas and the valley-based Congress government.
BIGGEST WINNERS
Even though the BJP's campaign in Manipur relied heavily on the supposed anti-incumbency wave against the ruling Congress, the results seem to suggest that the two national parties had to really fight it out to rule the troubled state. It could be argued that the BJP, which was non-existent in the 2012 Assembly elections, has made heavy inroads into Manipur given the number of seats they have won, but ultimately it was Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh's profile that brought the BJP juggernaut to a halt. Thus it is no surprise that Singh is among the big winners in Manipur. But while his candidacy from Thoubal provided a cushion to the ruling dispensation, another clear winner is Nongthmbam Biren Singh of the BJP, who won Heingang constituency defeating both the Congress and Trinamool Congress. Alfred Kanngam Arthur also won a surprise victory in Ukhrul, getting a staggering 11,510 votes even though his constituency is dominated by the Naga tribes, which had given a fair chance to either the BJP or Naga Peoples Front. Yet another surprise victory is of Ashabuddin, a Muslim independent candidate from Jiribam who managed to defeat all the major parties. Gaikhangam, the deputy CM, who got 10,255 votes in Nunga constituency, is a clear winner as well owing to the fact that his campaign was attacked violently on multiple occasions and he still chose to go on.
BIGGEST LOSERS
Among the major losers in Manipur is Irom Charu Sharmila, who was facing the sitting CM. While it expected that she would lose, the fact that she got only 90 votes caused a large amount of distress among her supporters in the rest of the country. The anti-AFSPA crusader had been on a fast for 16 years and had chosen electoral politics to voice her opinions. Among other major losers is Erendro Leichombam, an alumni of Harvard, who came to his state to fight the elections from the Thangmeiband constituency. He got only 573 votes. Another big loser is, of course, Yumkham Erabot Singh (BJP). The former Congress leader left the party to join the BJP months ahead of the elections. However, his loss to CM Ibobi Singh's son Okram Henry meant that the Congress did not lose much.
BIGGEST WINNING MARGIN
Okram Ibobi Singh (INC), Thoubal (10,470 votes)
Nongthombam Biren Singh (BJP), Heingang (1,206 votes)
Ashabuddin (Independent), Jiribam (536 votes)
Alfred Kanngam Arthur (INC), Ukhrul (296 votes)
Gaikhangam (INC), Nungba (5,146 votes)
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